Operation Gladio: The Two Italies and the Years of Lead

Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti exposed Gladio on October 24, 1990. He was the first leader to formally reveal the European-wide network of Stay Behind groups. The Italian network was established in November 1956 as an army capable of guerrilla warfare and espionage, in a program codenamed Gladio, preparing for a Soviet invasion. The invasion never came. The elements involved in Gladio, mainly composed of former fascists and neo-fascists from the far-right, engaged in covert operations and what came to be known as the “Strategy of Tension” (1969–80), which aimed to manipulate and control public opinion using covert and psychological operations, including false-flag terrorism. Gladio seems to have functioned as a parallel structure to the Interior Ministry, trained to fight against the communist and radical leftist elements sometimes referred to as “Red Gladio.” This chapter analyzes how political violence and terrorism flourished as a result, feeding off the Cold War’s bipolar context.